sectoids

The week of August 18 will be one of the busiest of the year. In that span, Disney Infinity is launching and will likely sell like hotcakes to the younger set. Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist will probably be the must-have stealth title of the year. Meanwhile the bombastic Saints Row 4 will draw on their growing fan base.

But the most intriguing game coming out that week has to be The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. It’s the most original of the bunch. It’s a project that I’ve followed since it was announced at E3 2010. Since then, The Bureau has gone through several drastic changes and the game I recently played is far different from the one I first saw. The most noticeable change is the perspective: It’s gone from the first person to the third person, a move that feels right.

When I saw it three years ago, XCOM, as it was known back then, seemed more of a game that was adapted to use the Bioshock engine. It seemed like a natural dovetail for the developer, 2K Marin, which cut its teeth on the genetically modified shooter and later created the sequel. The combination of the characters, midcentury setting and user interface resembled the team’s past work. But now with the wholesale changes, the game has its own identity.